Tuesday 21 April 2020

How are you feeling ?

Facebook Life Group message
From Henri Nouwen
God is not a feeling

"Just as God cannot be “caught” or “comprehended” in any specific idea, concept, opinion, or conviction, he cannot be defined by any specific feeling or emotion either. God cannot be identified with a good affectionate feeling toward our neighbor, or with a sweet emotion of the heart or with ecstasies, movements of the body, or handling of snakes. God is not just our good inclinations, our fervor, our generosity, or our love. All these experiences of the heart may remind us of God’s presence, but their absence does not prove God’s absence. God is not only greater than our mind; he is also greater than our heart, and just as we have to avoid the temptation of adapting God to our small concepts we also have to avoid adapting him to our small feelings."  Henri Nouwen

I think that the integral word in this quote is the word "...just..." and it would be better to say ,God is not 'just' a feeling. For as I have feelings, so does God, but His reality is so much more than them, and, as God can feel my feelings, I feel that I have the potential to feel His if I would just include Him in mine.

Are feelings finite, yet, God infinite? Yet finite is part of infinite (in finite) I cannot seperate them in a binary way, but can seek to see their part in the whole, annd to experiance them from His perspective (feelings) and not only mine. But realizing that mine are important to God and He cares about them.

These are my feelings on the quote.

 Vance
https://henrinouwen.org/meditation/god-is-not-a-feeling/


No comments:

Resume@Vance

 VANCE GILLGREN. Vanceandanne@gmail.com 02102404696. 447366338101 Born in Gisborne, I emigrated to UK with my wife and children for a period...